Evel's Story

Many will tell you the unconscious mind reveals itself or expresses itself in surrealist art. Evel Torres will tell you that from almost as long as he can remember he saw images within images within images in everyday things. What took him some time to understand is that others did not. It was this realization that drove him to paint. By the time he was in High School others were taking notice of his work. But life solely as an artist was not to be. 

 

Evel was born in Santa Marta, Columbia in 1952. By three his mother realized that he possessed a natural artistic gift to depict the world around him. However, as an adolescent Evel became intrigued and inspired by the work of prominent surrealists such as  Salvador Dali and Hieronymus Bosch. Their influence echoes through in his work to this day as he combines modernism with surrealism to create the striking imagery that anchors his work.

 

In 1960 Evel with his family emigrated to the U.S. settling in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens NY. It was not long after that Evel’s painting started to take on a surrealist look. By the time he was in High School, he painted constantly becoming more and more passionate about his art. However, pursuing his art as a livelihood was not to be. A trying home situation and missed opportunity at school took Evel in another direction as he built a successful flooring business. But his painting never stopped. As Evel explains, “I don’t remember a time when I didn’t think of myself as an artist… even when I was selling someone’s next kitchen floor.”